At the height of the demonstrations against the change in France’s retirement age, this was the storefront for the 18th Arrondissement local office for the CGT union, the General Federation of Labor.
Louise Michel, shown in the image, was a teacher and activist, who lived in the Montmartre section of Paris. For many years she was one of the leaders in the struggle for women’s rights. Michel was one of the leaders of the Paris Commune, advocating for the violent overthrow of the French government.
When the commune fell, she was sentenced to 20 months in prison and then exiled to New Caledonia, where she became an anarchist. She spent the rest of her life passing between exile and life in Paris, always involved in political struggles. Michel died of pneumonia in Marsellie in 1905, and her funeral was attended by over 100,000 people.
